E.G. Bates Touring Bicycles

The racing bicycle is designed for speed
and efficiency. The drop handlebars, lower than the saddle, provide the rider
with an aerodynamic riding posture. The traditional racing bicycle is made with
531 Reynolds tubing and the components made of light weight alloys.

The parallelogram derailleur was introduced in 1937, the Simplex cable shifting
derailleur in 1938, the first modern derailleurm - the Campagnolo Gran Sport -
in 1949, the Suntour slant-parallelogram rear derailleur in 1964 and the
Shimano Index shifting arrived in 1985.

The post war years was a boon time for bicycles. People
couldn't afford cars. Many commuter bicycles doubled up as time trial and racing
machines with a change of wheels and stripped off mudguards. Every town had a
wheelers club and meetings of the CTC (Cyclist Touring Club); of which I am a
life time member.

After the second world war Horace and Eddie Bates established
a number of bicycle shops in the East end of London. In 1947 Eddie Bates split
up from the Bates Brothers and took over the shop at 589-591 Barking Road under
the name E.G. Bates. The shop was later run by his sons and remained in
business until 2002.

In 1981 I was living in Manor Park, just north of East Ham
station, when my Holdsworthy Mistral bicycle was stolen from out side the public
library. I had in fact two Mistral bicycles but the second frame took a very
long time to be completed and when eventually I got it the geometry was not
right. Putney was also much too far away to have to make frequent visits too. So
I turned to my local bicycle shop E.G Bates of Flanders House, 589-591 Barking
Road, Plaistow, London E13 9EZ.

They built the frame and ordered in the components, fitted the
headset and bottom bracket and I assembled the rest.

The completed bicycle is shown below with Mr Bates, the owner
of the shop. His father, EG Bates, built the frame in the back room.

The process of determining the dimensions of the frame where
important, as well as what would be fitted to it. A well made bicycle, to your
dimensions, feels like an extension of you. This is what EG Bates offered.

Before the frame was sprayed I asked if I could see it. I had taken CSE
Metalwork and here was the chance to see the work of a master craftsman. Mr
Bates had some difficulty persuading his father to let me see it. Apparently it wasn't
finished. We looked at, and looked, again, it was perfect. The finish
of the bare metal was so good that it looked as if it has been painted that
colour. Even the joints needed very close inspection to see the bracing. It
is made of Reynolds 531 steel tubing and had Campagnolo ends. No one had every
asked to see the frame before it was painted. Another odd request, if not
unique, was certainly the first. I have my name stamped on the bottom bracket of
the frame, next to the serial number.

I already had a good idea what I wanted from having built recently two
Holdsworthy and before that two three other racing bicycles (an all chrome
Raleigh, a Carlton and a frame I purchased from a fellow member of the Grantham
cycling club). The TA Chain set was on a long waiting list, about 26 weeks. The
GB handle bars and stem where hard to find. The Macfac centre pull brakes,
Simplex front and rear derailleurs, Campagnolo pedals, head set and hubs. The
selection of gears I had worked out by writing a programme in BASIC. The school
where I taught mathematics had access to the mainframe at Fords Motor Company in
Dagenham via teletype and dial up modem. I developed an algorithm to look for a logarithmic change in gear ratio making it closer
at the top gears and larger in the low gears. The 50 and 60 teeth rings where
unusually large, as was the long crank.

Even at my fitess, pushing the top gear with 9.2 metres travelled for each turn
of the pedals was hard work. The bottom gear with 50 teeth on the front
and 30 on the gear block was pedalling like mad to get anywhere, but made going
up hills a breeze.

I was never a sporting cyclist, but a commuter. I had discovered that I could
cycle the 14 miles to see friends faster than on the 10 miles road race. Moviation, and I had none to race.

Although built for touring, and it was the bicycle I cycled from East Ham to
Dover on, it was my daily trip on the North Circular to New Southgate that it
was most used.

When I moved to Cambridge and later had work in London I took this bicycle on
the train and cycled from Liverpool Street to Farringdon. The plastic of the
front derailleur broke, age hardened, a couple of years ago and eventually I
found a matching Simplex front derailleur for it - all metal. The fitting is
different on more modern bicycles, including the 19" frame with a guide fitted
to the bottom bracket. I fitted a rim dynamo and then one to just behind the
crank. This had the problem of soaking your shoes in heavy rain. When it gave up
I fitted a more efficient rim dynamo. Other than inner tubes and a couple
of new tyres it has not needed any other maintenance.

Ten years later (1992), when remarried, I had a second bicycle built. My second
Holdsworthy frame was too high for my wife and so a 19.5" frame (the smallest
man's bicycle they built) was selected. They had long abandoned making a ladies
frame.

I had hoped to move most of the equipment from the Holdsworthy
but still had to get different brakes, derailleurs, pedals and seat. The brake
levers where particularly difficult to find with a short reach and where
obtained separately second hand. The small frame, full size wheels and long
crank means that you can catch the toe clips on the front mudguard and the
mudguard on the rear wheel is not able to be closely fitted. It would have been
better to built totally new from scratch but I saved several hundred pounds on
parts and the time that special ordering would mean. I also
hoped to get as close a match to my bicycle as I could.

The cross bar still presented a problem and so the brake cable
with the braced on loops was padded. The 19.5" bicycle was hardly been
used as my wife neglected to inform me that although she used to cycle to work
she was uncomfortable in the traffic and wouldn't use it. It now waits for our
daughter to be tall enough to use it.

Some years ago I did a revaluation of the bicycles for
insurance. Most of the parts are not available so I had to pick appropriate
alternatives. The replacement, at that time checked and confirmed by a local
bicycle shop, would cost about £1200.